Jenice Armstrong: Where were Loughner's parents?

AT THE RISK of sounding harsh, how could the parents of accused shooter Jared Lee Loughner have missed so many signs that their son was a major safety threat?

I know no one wants to acknowledge that his or her child could become a mass murderer, but I'm tired of hearing from relatives after the fact that they didn't know their loved one was capable of committing the unspeakable.

Randy and Amy Loughner haven't spoken out publicly yet so we don't know what they have to say. But they had to know their son was in deep trouble. Not only had Loughner been kicked out of community college and told not to come back until he'd had a mental-health evaluation, but the army had rejected him. Then, there are the weird, rambling YouTube and MySpace postings. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Loughner had made repeated verbal threats against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who he's accused of shooting in the head during Saturday's rampage in Tucson, Ariz., in which six people were killed and 14 others wounded. We'll most likely hear more in the days ahead.

We can all acknowledge that Loughner's parents must be stunned, shocked and saddened by their son's alleged horrific deed.

They have to be.

Even if they shared the same views as their child, they probably never dreamed he would take out his frustrations out on innocent people, including a 9-year-old girl, as he has been accused of doing. But c'mon. They bear some responsibility.

Parents who have the slightest sense that something's off shouldn't pretend they don't see crazy, especially when it's all up under their roof.

If we've learned anything from the horrors of the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres, sometimes there are ticking timebombs watching the family TV.

But, again, we don't know if Randy and Amy tried to seek treatment for their son.

But experts say that all too often, parents miss key signs that their child is harboring violent tendencies and may be a risk to others.

When signs of trouble surface, it can become a "no, not my kid" kind of thing, even though classmates, in this case, had expressed concerns about his behavior.

One even predicted that he'd do some short of mass shooting like the one he's now accused of committing.